Why are some books not available as eBooks at the Library?

Ebooks are certainly popular here at the Toronto Public Library!  While it’s true that the ebook collection at TPL is growing all the time, you might find some newer titles curiously absent from the collection.  Since ebooks first arrived, many TPL patrons have enjoyed being able to access the latest and greatest titles in electronic format. It has been a model publishers, vendors, and libraries have all agreed provides the most reasonable and equitable form of access.  Now, some publishers have different ideas of how the ebook library lending model should look in the future. 

On this important topic, CBC’s The National reported recently that major publishers' concerns over piracy are impacting long established library book lending practices.  See the following video for the full report.

If you’re an avid ebook fan, or if you’re simply curious about how the program works, please watch this enlightening piece.  As TPL patrons have come to learn, the greatness of ebooks is not going away. But for the time being, we must work within an industry which is navigating uncharted digital waters. 

Penguin Group halting new eBook additions for Library lending

Update (August 21, 2014): Penguin Canada titles are available through the library's eBook collection.

It was just announced that Penguin publishers will be halting distribution of newly-released titles to the Overdrive service, citing security concerns.  

Access to all older Penguin ebooks has been restored, however. The 'Get For Kindle' option was also recently removed, but this does not affect Canadian libraries since Kindle versions are not provided through Overdrive currently. 

Penguin pulishers halts distribution of their new titles in ebook format and pulls newest books from library e-book lending programs 

 

Users who are seeking new Penguin ebooks may not find the materials they are looking for until this issue is resolved. We will make further notifications as news arrives.